As I write this, I remember a colleague who had the courage to speak out against medical misinformation on Facebook and got charged for cyberlibel. What are we all going to do about medical misinformation onRead More…

A Chinese scientist has announced that he edited the genomes of two human embryos to make them resistant to HIV. And that he had implanted these embryos in their mother, who gave birth to healthy twinRead More…

I renewed my physician’s license at the Professional Regulation Commission this year. Thankfully, I didn’t have any worries about fulfilling the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) units as I am often a speaker (if not an attendee)Read More…

A few weeks ago, I was asked to give a talk entitled Cyberbullying: Legal Rights of Physicians Maligned on Social Media. I accepted the talk but changed the title to “When Patients Complain.” I wanted toRead More…

I first heard about TEDEd lessons a few years back. A follower on Twitter had asked me if I wanted to apply for a TEDEd fellowship. I checked out the application and one question asked was, How many TEDEd lessons have you created? What’s that?! Since then, I’ve been recommending it at faculty development workshops, as a way for professors to use videos in their classes. A TEDEd lesson is one way a professor can flip his class! Continue reading →

Sometime after 9 am this morning, I received an SMS from my husband telling me that Dr. Ramon Abarquez had passed away. It set off a wave of memories, of things half-remembered but indelible. Let me write ten random things about him here, as a humble send-off for a great teacher! Continue reading →

This post and the #HealthXPH tweet chat on December 2, 9 pm PHT is inspired by an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, The Power of Regret, by Dr. Jerome Groopman & Dr. Pamela Hartzband last October. In it, regret is defined as having two essential elements –

… imagining that the present situation would have been better if one had acted differently, and self-recrimination for having made a choice that led to a bad outcome.

Happy to have been invited to give a talk at the first TDR Global Talk last 25 October 2017 at the University of the Philippines Manila Theater. I got to wear what I call a “diva mic!” Continue reading →

It’s not been a good week for me. I’ve had to tell two patients that they need a thyroidectomy because their biopsies showed papillary thyroid cancer. It is not an aggressive form of cancer but still … patients know this is bad news. I don’t know how I would do it if I were an oncologist, having to do this all the time. Continue reading →

Merriam-Webster defines Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of intelligent behavior on computers, or the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior.

How do you imagine AI in healthcare? Is it more like No. 5 in Short Circuit or Sonny in I, Robot? Let’s talk about AI and healthcare at the #HealthXPH tweet chat on tonight 29 Jul 9 pm Manila time (9 am EST). Continue reading →

I’ve two sons. The younger one wants to be an entomologist, while the eldest is still deciding on a career. I’d be perfectly happy if none of them chose to be a physician like myself. I think medical school is too darn long and so damn hard. I certainly survived it and so can they, but at what cost? My maternal instinct is to shield them from the hardships I experienced.

Aileen asksIf I were not a doctor, I would have been … If I were not a [insert specialty here], I would be a … When I retire from my medical career, I would. She conjures an alternate universe. But how about a parallel universe instead?

At the recently concluded #hcsmph2017, a question was asked during the Unconference –

Is self-diagnosis online valid?

The question was raised in relation to mental health and answering online questionnaires to see if one is depressed. Another participant had also asked the same question, relating how a friend’s father had died of stroke because of a neglected headache. Apparently, the family members had relied on Google search and delayed going to the doctor. This inspired me to have this topic for the next #HealthXPH tweet chat on 29 April Saturday, 9 pm Manila time. I had previously written about Dr. Google and why self-diagnosis annoys doctors. Continue reading →

Last Saturday, we had another interesting #HealthXPH tweet chat co-moderated by Dr. Gia Sison (@giasison), medical students RJ Nagui (@rjnaguitskona) and Ryan Lintao (@rylintao) and Senator Risa Hontiveros (@risahontiveros). The topic was The Youth and Mental Health.

So yesterday was Friday the 13th and my 15th wedding anniversary. I’d seen someone do anniversary tweets before (cannot remember still who it was, so if you do please leave a comment). I thought this was a good idea to surprise my husband. Only problem was he’s not on Twitter so I had to post a summary on Facebook. I wasn’t sure how it would go down, as it was PDA (Public Display of Affection). But I think he’s enjoying the attention.

This was my nth presentation on this topic so most of my slides came from previous slide decks. But it was the first time I, a self-proclaimed social media evangelist, began on a somber note – Continue reading →

“We have forgotten that aspect of professional folk wisdom,” Hall said. “Doctors need to make their treatment recommendations in the context of what patients can and can’t afford, with the understanding that some patients can’t afford what they might recommend.”

The subtitle of this post should be Why I Ask My Students to Make A Concept Map, Mind Map and Infographic. This post is also my assignment for a course I am taking on Coursera, eLearning Ecologies: Innovative Approaches to Teaching and Learning for the Digital Age. Continue reading →

The #DigitalScholar course of Reda Sadki introduced me to Bill Copes and Mary Kalantzis. The Copes & Kalantzis MOOC on Coursera elearning Ecologies was running then at the same time but I had my hands full with #DigitalScholar so I wasn’t able to concentrate on the MOOC. So I’m trying this MOOC now.

As an endocrinologist, care coordination is something I struggle with in my clinic. There being only 200 or so endocrinologists in the Philippines, I often see patients from places where there are no endocrinologists. They travel great distances to see me. As you can imagine, persons with diabetes will need care from others such as an ophthalmologist, cardiologist, nutritionist, dentist etc. These healthcare professionals may or may not be available where the patients live. If they are not available where they are, I have to choose who to refer to in the faculty medical arts building (attached to a medical school and a university hospital) where I hold clinic and ask my secretary to schedule an appointment for them. While all medical specialties are housed under one roof, scheduling can be hit or miss. Sometimes, the patient can be seen that same day before they travel back home and sometimes not. Tracking whether the patient has indeed been seen is another problem. I can find out months later when the patient comes to her appointment with me that she was not seen for example by an ophthalmologist despite my referral.

I love it when young people ask me to speak at conferences. Being around young people inspires me. Most of them see social media as their default way of communicating with the world. They are often surprised that they can use social media in “more serious” ways, as someone told me after my talk. Continue reading →

This picture has circulated in my Facebook feed since last month. It didn’t feel right but I decided not to say anything as I saw some colleagues sharing it. I was wary of offending someone. However, there was one post in particular recently where I simply could not in good conscience keep quiet. And I said –

I am a physician and I find this picture offensive.

So what happened? The person who posted the picture deleted my reply! That’s what made me decide to write this blog post. Continue reading →